Cops: Off-duty officer shoots at driver who drove at him

By Staff report

Dec 24, 2012 | 6:29 AM

(Tribune photo illustration)

An off-duty Chicago police officer fired on a SUV Saturday night after it sped toward him following a minor traffic crash, police said.

The driver was not injured and fled his vehicle on foot following the incident, which happened shortly before 10 p.m., according to a statement from the Chicago Police Department's Office of News Affairs.

The man "violently resisted" police officers when they caught up to him and was taken into custody, the statement said.

Charges against the man are pending.

The off-duty officer had asked the driver to follow him to a nearby police station after the driver's vehicle rear-ended the officer's vehicle at a traffic light in the 800 block of West Division Street in the Goose Island neighborhood on the Near North Side, police said.

After that initial crash, the driver drove off and was followed by the officer into an alley east of North Ashland Avenue, police said.

In the alley, the officer approached the other vehicle on foot when the driver accelerated toward him, prompting the officer to fire his weapon, according to the police statement.

The Independent Police Review Authority will review the officer's use of force, as it does for all police-involved shootings.